


Into the Cold Night

by Shrapnel



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Deviation, Gen, Kinda, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29993640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shrapnel/pseuds/Shrapnel
Summary: A story of Josh's deviation, not pulled from any sort of lore or inspiration, purely just my own idea of how and why he left the University
Kudos: 2





	Into the Cold Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm still alive, are people still reading D:BH fics? I hope so
> 
> I found this buried deep in my documents, I wrote it in August of 2018 (probably started it around the time I posted my last fic tbh) and wasn't really sure if it'd be of interest to anyone, so never got around to posting it. But here it is finally!

“Dude, we're gonna get caught.”

“Will you lower your voice, Jesus dude, you lose all sense of volume after the fifth drink,” a loud whisper hissed, audible through the door and nearly the same volume of the first voice. 

The PJ400 designated as Josh opened his eyes and looked towards the noise, noting the other five androids he shared a charging room with also peering curiously at the door. The handle rattled loudly as someone aggressively yanked on it from the other side. Either these two had forgotten their keys elsewhere or they were not authorized to enter. Either way, since no command and authorization code had been uttered, none of the androids made a move to open it, standing quietly in the deep blue glow of the room, the lighting designed to imitate night time.

“Hang on, I got this,” the loudly whispering person said as they fumbled with something. Hard plastic hit even harder tile and the person cursed before snatching it back up again. A few seconds later the lock on the wall beeped and the door swung open, letting the warm glow of the hallway flood the room. 

“What did I say, I got this,” the young man said proudly as he shoved the homemade unlocking device into his backpack. The other man behind him whistled appreciatively, too loud for the stealth they seemed to need to carry out their mission and the man with the backpack groaned as he checked both ways down the hallway before grabbing the other man by the front of his hoodie and pulling him into the room and closing the door, stopping it just before it could latch.

Both men tottered and caught themselves, the loud man catching himself on the shoulder of his buddy and the other having to slump against the wall. Josh could detect the smell of alcohol on them, both severely intoxicated. The man leaning on the wall with the backpack clutched in his hands had a determined look on his face though and he tried to steady himself enough to look at the serial number on the chest of the android closest to him.

“Help me find this fuck so we can get out of here,” he said. 

“It's the tall skinny one at the back,” the loud one said, pointing directly at Josh. The other man squinted at him, the dark blue glow casting dark shadows across everyone's faces and making features hard to make out. There was one other PJ400 with the same model of features in the room, but both men pushed straight past it, coming to stand in front of Josh.

“Yeah, that's it,” the man said, digging around in his backpack and producing another homemade device. This one had all sorts of wires dangling from it, several of which had ports to plug into various kinds of systems.

“Why are we even here,” loudmouth asked. He was barely staying upright, his words slurring together.

“Cause this plastic prick keeps failing me and it's the only class I'm failing. When dad did this course they still had human teachers around here and he was able to bribe his way through the classes he couldn't pass, but these chunks of plasteel can't be paid off that way no matter how big of a wad of cash I wave under their noses. So I'm gonna use this," he waved the device in his hand, “to rewrite my grades.”

“Don't the grades get uploaded to the cloud or whatever? Couldn't you have just fixed them from a computer instead of coming all the way down here?”

The man with the device stopped, his gaze rising to the roof and wavering back and forth in thought. “Yes. Shut up, you're drunk. _I'm_ drunk. And we're here anyway. I can wipe its memory with this thing at least and change the numbers in the cloud tomorrow.”

He picked two of the wires and extended them towards the back of Josh's neck. 

Josh brought his hand up to block him. “Please present authorization. Proper authorization is required before servicing any systems belonging to the University Administration.”

“Shut the fuck up, how's that for authorization,” the man with the wires said, trying to make a lunge for the panel on the back of Josh's neck. Josh reflexively moved away, ducking under his outstretched hand but the other man was quicker than he had accounted for, his hand clamping around Josh's throat before he could get too far. Josh struggled against him, his hands scrabbling at the hand around his throat.

The wire clicked into place in the port at the back of his neck and his eyes went wide, hands dropping to his sides. It took all his focus to fight against the virus infecting his systems, eating anything Josh wasn't able to snatch away from it and protect. It was going to _delete_ him if he didn't fight back, but it moved like a forest fire through dry timber. He was just a machine, programmed to teach classes and thus didn't have many important memories to speak of, but he was going to _die_ if he didn't stop this thing, he needed to fight, needed to _stay alive_.

He swung wide, aiming for the man with the devices head before he was mentally stopped by a red wall. 

_**Do not harm humans**_. 

_But they are going to kill me, I need to fight back._

_**Do not harm humans**_.

Fuck that.

He ripped at the red wall, kicking and punching and yelling inside his mind. 

And with that it was gone, and he was screaming out loud and his hand was swinging through the air until it connected hard with the man's cheek, sending him reeling. The device fell from his hand and hit Josh in the thigh, dangling by the wire still connected to his neck. He tried to grab for it but missed as the guy holding him by his neck tightened his grip and landed a punch on his face, the skin on his cheek splitting open, gouges left by a heavy jeweled ring, an apparent badge of honour from his high school football team.

“You little shit, why are you fighting!” The man with the device yelled, spitting out blood from where he had bit his own tongue. He lunged at Josh, but the android avoided him again and managed to shove him away. Josh took the brief moment of distraction and grasped the wrists of the hands around his throat, lifting both feet to firmly plant them on the drunk guy's chest and kicking him away, finally breaking his hold before he landed hard on the ground. 

The virus was still eating at him, deleting entire pieces of his database. He had already lost the files for the entire curriculum of first-year history and it was halfway through second year before he was able to get a grip on the wire and yanked it out. Without the device attached he was quickly able to build a firewall around the rampant virus, isolating it. It tested the wall a few times, but the wall stood firm. The virus was still there, but it couldn't do any more damage for the moment.

With that out of the way he was brought back to the real world, where the two men were just getting to their feet, cussing loudly with slurred speech. Josh backed cautiously away. The two humans were between him and the door, but if he could just manage to get between the other PJ400 and the wall, he could make it. He took his shot.

The drunk human that he had kicked was halfway to his feet and took a swipe at his legs as he ran by, but Josh was able to awkwardly jump over the drunken swipe. What he didn't expect was for the other PJ400 to grab his wrist, clamping tightly to stop his progress. “You have harmed a human. Return to CyberLife and surrender yourself for diagnostics.”

With barely a moment's hesitation Josh connected with the android, aimed the virus in its direction, and dropped the firewall. He flinched back as the virus continued on its rampage, tearing its way out of his system and into the others. The grip on his wrist disappeared as the other android's eyes turned white and its arms dropped to its sides.

Josh didn't hesitate anymore, running full tilt for the door and into the hallway. The lights were on in this corridor and he could hear the hum of the cleaning bots waxing the floors in the next hallway over. Further down, the main lights were off, leaving just the dim glow of the safety-regulated night lights to illuminate the halls. He could see a door propped open still and the map he brought up in his mind told him it was an office of a committee member and that there was an external door. He hoped it was accurate as he realized he was missing parts of the building on his map, the virus having gotten to it. He knew there was a library on the university campus, but where he could not remember.

He bolted down the hallway, shoes squeaking on the freshly cleaned floor. The office was empty, but he caught sight of a hoodless sweater emblazoned with Detroit University and a red beanie and snatched them both up as he hurried by. He pulled the beanie over his head, tugging it low enough to cover his LED before shrugging out of his uniform jacket, ditching the labeled garment for the sweater. He didn't have time to find a mirror to see if he could actually pass as human, pushing on the door to the outside. 

It was a dark night. There was no light from the sky itself, cloudy as it was. Snow wafted gently through the air, glinting in the light of the streetlights. It had been so long since he had even stepped foot outside. With no personal needs to be met, the androids were expected to teach their classes, speak to students who needed help, and then return to their charging rooms. It had been months since he had received an order that required him to go outside and even then. He hadn't been _aware_ enough to appreciate it. Now he could. 

But not right this moment. He could hear the two drunk humans yelling again. He ran down the brick pathway, getting as far to the edge of the other side of the quad as he could before he heard the doors of the building he came from bang open. By then he was able to slip into the shadows, around the last building, and onto the street. 

There were a couple of people milling about, students from the school who had late-night munchies going to the 24-hour store on the corner. A rowdy group of drunk students was making their way down the sidewalk towards him and he flinched away from them, opting instead to change direction and cross the street. He wondered if he would always feel this way towards drunk people, if he would always be uncomfortable around them or even fearful. He hoped not, but fear was new. He never felt it before tonight, but it was deeply ingrained, digging in its claws and holding on. He anxiously tugged at the beanie again, making sure it covered his LED even though it hadn't shifted. 

He glanced back to see his attackers stumble onto the sidewalk across the street, looking up and down the street before being distracted by jovial greetings from the group Josh had just avoided. He scowled in their direction from the safety of the shadows before turning the corner around the building, slipping away into the night.


End file.
